This uses shells for ammunition. The spread of the shotgun blast makes close combat more damaging, but long range attacks easier. Perfect for the less than proficient marksman. The shotgun is effective against Strogg Guards and Flyers.

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—The Quake II Manual

The Shotgun fires 12 pellets with each shot. Like most video game shotguns, the Shotgun does heavy damage up close and is almost completely worthless at long range due to its inaccuracy. Usually the first pickup Weapon in the game, the Shotgun is a much-needed step up from the Blaster.

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The Shotgun is the first new weapon you'll find in Single Player. The Shotgun can kill a Guard in one shot, and can deal major damage to an Enforcer. Once you start to encounter tougher enemies (such as Gunners), stronger weapons will appear, making the Shotgun much less useful. However, since Guards are common throughout the game, the Shotgun will still have a purpose throughout the single player mode. The Shotgun can also be used as a rough sniping weapon, due to its small cone of fire. The shotgun may be weaker than its super variant, but it fires faster to save up for your powerful weapon ammunition.

In The Reckoning and Ground Zero, the Shotgun is capable of gibbing weaker Guards, destroying Flyers in one shot, and killing Enforcers with two shots. Vanilla Quake 2's Shotgun did not have these capabilities, which likely means that the weapon's specs were altered in the mission packs to increase the gun's effectiveness against low-tier enemies.

In MP, the Shotgun can take off almost half of a completely healthy and unarmored target's health (if all of the pellets hit them). This gives you a fighting chance against enemies with better weapons, but that doesn't mean that you should rush an enemy as soon as you get it. Instead, try to find some enemies that're fighting each other, and shoot the one that has the weapon you want. When he's dead, grab it, finish off the other guy, and go on your way.

If you do have to use it against somebody in a fight, try to get close and remember to constantly jump and circle-strafe your target!